Sunday, August 9, 2015

Jeff Green picked up the 72nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Zippo 200 at the Glen at Watkins Glen International when his unsponsored #19 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 3 of the race’s 82 laps.

With the finish, Green’s 12th of the season and 8th in the last 10 XFINITY races, Green has become the first driver in NASCAR history to finish last in 5 consecutive races in the same series. Green breaks his own record of 4 in a row set in August 2011 and matched last week at Iowa. The finish occurred in Green’s 407th series start.

On Saturday, the 40th starting spot belonged to John Wes Townley, whose crew had to make changes to his #25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet after mechanical issues prevented him from completing a single qualifying lap. Though already starting in the back, Townley was thus listed as one of three drivers sent to the rear for post-qualifying adjustments, joining Ben Rhodes in JR Motorsports’ #88 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet and the #40 Racing With Jesus / Courtney Construction Chevrolet of Morgan Shepherd.

Shepherd was originally the lone DNQ in his #89, but the veteran was brought back into the field after the misfortunes of the Motorsports Business Management team. MBM’s #40 Braille Battery / Grafoid Toyota was originally entered with Josh Reaume, but after a 40th-fastest speed in final practice, Reaume was replaced by T.J. Bell for qualifying. Unfortunately, Bell lost the engine coming into Turn 1. With the race barely two hours away and MBM without a backup engine, the team arranged with Shepherd to drive the #89 as MBM’s “backup,” the car hastily renumbered with silver and black tape so it resembled a crude #40. Shepherd’s ride was ready just in time to follow Townley and Rhodes to the green flag.

Meanwhile, Green was holding station in the 32nd position on Lap 2 when he began to fall back through the field to make his way to pit road. On Lap 4, he was all by himself, 70 seconds behind the field, when the lead Penske duo of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano caught up to him entering Turn 11. Green held the inside as the leaders went side-by-side and cut hard to the right to get out of the way, narrowly avoiding a collision. The move not only captured the Green on camera, but also allowed Keselowski to take the lead from Logano, the first of nine lead changes before Logano finally prevailed.

Green claimed the record-breaking finish by 5 laps over Townley, whose electrical problems resurfaced with a fire that stopped him at the entrance of Turn 1, bringing out the first caution. Shepherd’s re-numbered car parked soon after the Lap 13 restart. Rounding out the Bottom Five were two of JD Motorsports’ three entries, both felled with mechanical issues. K&N Pro Series West driver Michael Self came home 40th when his #0 Auto Remote Warehouse Chevrolet broke the transmission and stopped in Turn 1. Moments later, teammate Landon Cassill lost the engine on the #01 Great Outdoors RV Superstore Chevrolet as he exited Turn 10 and narrowly made it to pit road.LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marks Green’s first last-place finish in an XFINITY Series race at Watkins Glen since 2011, when his #44 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet lost the brakes after he completed 1 lap. That finish was the second in his first streak of four lasts in a row.
*The #19 had never before finished last in an XFINITY Series race at Watkins Glen.

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40 drivers start a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race. 40 fill the grid in the XFINITY Series. 32 take the green in Trucks. Yet, even when the field is short, only a handful of these stories are ever told.

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Since 2009, LASTCAR.info has covered the untold "race" for the most last-place finishes in NASCAR history - and, in doing so, continues to chronicle the trials and triumphs of those who race for something more meaningful than victory: survival.

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LASTCAR's Official Definition of a "Last-Place Finisher" (LPF)

For LASTCAR purposes, including rankings and statistics, a “last-place finisher” (LPF) shall be defined as any single NASCAR driver who, after earning a starting spot in the field for a NASCAR-sanctioned points-paying race against other NASCAR Sprint Cup, XFINITY, or Camping World Truck Series drivers, was at race’s conclusion classified as the last-ranked qualified driver in the field for said race. This classification must be recognized on official NASCAR results, or failing this, by a preponderance of unofficial sources. Only one driver can be classified as the LPF for any single NASCAR-sanctioned race.

So long as the above is met, the LPF can be any one driver classified as such for any reason, including but not limited to (1) a “did not start,” that is, an entrant who qualifies for a starting spot in the race, but for any reason is subsequently unable to start the event, including a post-qualifying driver switch if it is still recognized as the LPF in the results (2) an entrant who encounters an event once the race has started which prevents the driver from finishing ahead of any other qualified entrants, including both DNFs and a driver who finishes under power but laps down, (3) a decision to “start and park” the driver’s entry, (4) a disqualification handed down by NASCAR and/or track officials that subsequently classifies the driver in the final position behind the unofficial LPF.

LASTCAR shall not consider the LPF as anything else, including but not limited to (1) the lowest-ranked driver who finishes the race under power, (2) the fastest driver who does not qualify for the event in question, (3) a driver who was originally the LPF, but sometime after the race was usurped for the spot by a disqualified entrant NASCAR and/or track officials classified as the official LPF, (4) a driver who may be categorized as finishing last for exhibition events (these entrants shall be ranked only in the rankings for that event, and not commingled with LPFs).

In the rare event where official results or a preponderance of unofficial results are later updated with more accurate information about who was the LPF for that event, LASTCAR rankings and statistics shall be updated to reflect that change.

J.D. McDuffie (1938-1991)

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